Day four

Today was beach walk, we took our instant coffee and tried to feel normal. We didn't get very far, and realized we were not going to feel normal...the damage was everywhere. 

This place was abandoned, but that only means the rubble will sit this way, until it's all scavanged.

We have never seen anyone in this place either, they lost a large covered porch.

Check out the building in the background...

Above wasn't a house, it was a ramada for maybe a pop up restaurant. We made it down to the Boca, saw our friends houses were undamaged and headed for home. No shell collecting, no wood collecting, just a walk today. As we got closer to home, I suggested going thru the neighborhood, to see what we hadn't seen yet, but Mike didn't want to see anymore destruction, so I went alone.

This was a hotel, that was being added on to. Sure don't know how they will fix this!

Next is our friend Jose's house. He lost his kitchen and bathroom area, he said his house was 40 years old, well...no wonder it fell, termite eaten wood in the debris. One of the people we want to help, first thing I tried to do was get Joffre to get someone for the demo, but nothing became of it.

Without a kitchen, he can't eat. And I know he doesn't have any money, he makes money from getting fish from the fishermen and then selling or trading it. We buy filleted fish from him every once in awhile, and shrimp but he charges $6, and I get it from Edison for $5. He either doesn't ask for help, or has burned bridges, don't know, but even if his stove was on the ground, he could cook.

This two story house is Romero family, the sister who is married to the policeman, they were adding on, poco y poco, and some of the debris fell onto the neighbors roof.

I headed into town, to see progress, and saw that some of Edison's family had moved into this building. Nice they don't have to take the mosquito nets down everyday.

From this picture you can see why Gorditos moved. They salvaged everything they could, roofing, etc and have secured them somewhere else. And across the street, work is being done to clear out the down parking structure/hotel.

They got his car out...and you can see the damage to Joffres moms roof above.

I ran into a Canadian Glenn who we know, and he told me his new accommodations had a generator running every night, so we went to charge our phone after dinner. I will have to do a post on CasaMar, as it looks very interesting, we met the owner Fernando, from Quito originally, who spoke excellent English. Spent a couple hours chatting, and learning about the area, and of course got the phone charged. I think this is when we finally got to post online that we were safe.

 Anyway, that about sums up day four, not much is happening, the fishermen aren't going out as normal, because there is no refrigeration, no ice to put the fish on. (Speaking of ice, I've just got the last of it in town from Jenny's own personal stash, no more cold beers) They are combining teams and only using one boat, fishing only for food, I highly doubt we will ever starve here! There is talk of need of aid, but even with the destruction of homes, and businesses...we don't see it. Our little fishing village seems...happy and that is a good thing. Stay tuned, the adventure continues!

Day two

We ducked under the shade structure to get out, a couple fishermen were working nets, they mentioned the roof, and we said Mañana. For the first time we noticed the house in front lost its wall.

We walked the two short blocks to Centro and saw what Campos and his boys had been doing the night before, securing their store and house.

The building on the corner housed two small families and a business.

Across the street the Laurita was severely damaged, it was a restaurant and hostel. Debris from it fell and damaged the house next door, that happened a lot. 

Down the block, the new building Marco Delgado's hostel and parking garage collapsed, damaging Joffres mothers house and patio.

It was four stories. Parking on the bottom which is why I think it fell, not much structure to keep it upright. Turns out his car was parked in here, he lost everything! Even his original hostel and restaurant across the street. It damaged Gorditos chicken (who have relocated to Charapoto to set up shop), and the pharmacy moved in case there is more damage when they bring Marcos down.

The two above where taken after they cleaned out anything salvageable. Next in the tour is Edison. He and his family are number one on our collection list. He is our shrimp guy, when we don't get them free from the fishermen. His mother and wife make empanadas and milkshakes during high season, and have even delivered them to us! They also do laundry for hire, and most days this courtyard is full of hanging clothes.

Their house lost a wall, and that wall fell on their shade structure, where they worked and cooked. Their other house was damaged from the hotel next door.

Because of the aftershocks, the ladies didn't want to sleep inside this house, and because the other house was so damaged, they all were forced to sleep in the street.

Without any power in town the night before we had no idea Edison had lost his house, yet he grabbed us, took us to where his family was sitting, gave us a chair and bottle of water, and consoled us as we waited to evacuate. When I came around the corner the next morning and saw the destruction, I cried for the first time. I looked up, and there he was smiling eating a slice of watermelon, wish I could have gotten that picture. But it'll stay with me a long time. So far we have raised $300 thru the GoFundMe and Facebook, I'd like to give it all to them, but there are more that are in need too. We will wait and keep collecting. (Hint, hint)

So continue walking, I round the corner to come home, and Father fishermen's house is empty. The house across the street from his looks like this.

And next door to Father fisherman is Laureno and the Bravo family who had been busy doing new construction on their second floor.

Neither house is being lived in, still to this day because of the damage, and threat of more damage. Marcos restaurant is on the other side, so they may be waiting til it is demolished to see if more damage occurs to their homes. These two families are on our list as well, but it may be some time before we know what is really needed.

And that concludes our second day. I think we walked some more, down the Malecon into San Alejo, but I just don't remember. Mike kept telling me to write stuff down, but who knew it would be 11 days without power? Joffres first guess was 3-4 days, but my gosh nobody KNEW anything! People who had "smart phones" had info, but still that was sketchy. I started to realize you all knew much more than we did. 

Look how much this power pole moved, it's gotta be 4 inches. Oh, we did walk a little more, around dusk, we wandered over to  our Romero family to see how they were. They had lost a wall in a neighboring building, (not the house they live in) and had some cracks in the floor, good news. They were just getting dinner started, and OF COURSE insisted we stay, which we did. After dinner they were getting together with other families to sleep outside. There is a house on the corner for sale, and it's covered porch was large enough for several mattresses. They were busy putting up mosquito nets and snuggling in for the night. Safety in numbers, and cooler than inside with no power, they asked to stay, but we declined.

And this is how it goes, they are bringing their beds out at night, and putting them away during the day. I'm so glad the weather is comfortable, it makes such a difference! We've survived, stay tuned...the adventure continues!